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The celebrated actress Pauline Collins, widely recognized for her performance in the film Shirley Valentine, has passed away at the age of 85.

Her passing was peaceful in her London care home, in the company of her family after living with Parkinson's disease for a number of years, according to her relatives.

Collins will be best remembered for her depiction of unhappy homemaker Shirley in the director's award-winning motion picture, based on the acclaimed stage play by playwright Willy Russell.

Her critically acclaimed performance won her the Golden Globe for outstanding actress as well as a BAFTA award.

'Charming and Witty'

Her relatives said in a statement: "She was a multifaceted person to so many people, playing a variety of roles in her life. An intelligent, lively, and humorous figure on theater and film. Her illustrious career saw her play politicians, mothers and queens."

"She will always be remembered as the legendary, determined, lively, and insightful Shirley Valentine - a role that she made all her own. We knew all those parts of her because her magic was contained in each one of them."

They added she was their "loving mum, our beloved grandmother and great-grandmother", and her husband John Alderton's "life-long love"

"Warm, funny, generous, thoughtful, wise, she was constantly supportive," they expressed, appreciating her carers, who looked after her with "respect, empathy, and above all affection"

"She experienced a more peaceful goodbye. We ask that you recall her at the peak of her career; radiant and energetic; and give us the space and privacy to contemplate a life without her"

New York Theater

Collins first played the lead part of Shirley Valentine at the Vaudeville Theatre in London in 1988. She won that year's Olivier Award for best actress.

The following year she returned to the character on Broadway, New York, where she picked up numerous prizes including a esteemed Tony Award.

The movie adaptation was launched shortly after.

Her other films included 1991's City of Joy with Patrick Swayze, shot in Kolkata, which gained her international fame worldwide.

A native of Exmouth in 1940, Collins was raised near the city of Liverpool and started out her career as a teacher.

Her passion for theater inspired her to pursue acting on a part-time basis, and in 1957 she had a cameo role as a medical attendant in the TV series Emergency Ward 10.

She starred in the film Secrets of a Windmill Girl in 1966, portraying an imaginary performer in a London striptease nightclub, the Windmill Theater.

Following several theater parts, she employed her regional dialect to secure a part on the show The Liver Birds.

It was through acting that she met her husband John Alderton. They wed in 1969 and had a family of three, their sons and daughter.

Alderton and Collins starred alongside each other in a number of television and film roles, such as Upstairs, Downstairs, in which she played a maid in the acclaimed ITV program.